Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c8.s4.t1.2

v1.c8.s4.t1.2

This is one of the earliest dictionaries compiled and used for reference in translating Buddhist scriptures in China. The Chinese characters (翻译名义大集) for it mean *A Great Collection of Sanskrit Terms with Definitions in Tibetan for Reference in Translation*. In early 9ᵗʰ century CE, Kride Zukzain, then tsampo or king of Tibet, recruited Indian and Tibetan Buddhist scholars to collate terms already translated into Tibetan Buddhist scriptures and compiled a Sanskrit-Tibetan Buddhist vocabulary. More than 9,000 entries divided into 285 categories were collected into the vocabulary which has since served as a standard dictionary in Buddhist translation and studies. Later on, it was included into the *bostan gyur* or the *sastra* section of the Tibetan *tripitaka*. In modern times, a separate edition of the dictionary was published by the Beijing Nationalities Publishing House in 1992.